Facebook's algorithm identifies a cross as 'graphic violence' and censors it

@ElentirENG ES 3·27·2024 · 18:46 0

Censorship on the social network Facebook is reaching absolutely ridiculous extremes with the excuse of combating "graphic violence."

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A few days ago we saw here the kind of things that Facebook mistakenly identifies as "graphic violence": a submarine, an Antarctic landscape, a painting by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau and a famous photo of the Normandy landings, among other images. By qualifying these images in this way, what Facebook does is reduce their diffusion or put them in a less prominent place on the walls of our followers. A form of censorship that harms the publication of innocuous images.

Facebook has been giving the option to request a review to lift this censorship. Until now the reviews were relatively quick: a few hours or at most a day. But that has changed.In recent days, Facebook has been simply ignoring reviews for days. Furthermore, this social network is absurdly labeling more and more images that do not have even the slightest bit of violence. I will give you the case of what is happening in my Facebook posts.

On March 21 I published an article headed by this photo, in which we see three old German submarines abandoned in a half-demolished base. Facebook labeled ten publications that I made from that entry as "graphic violence" on my personal profile, on the corporate pages of this blog and in different groups on that social network. That same day I asked for a review: five days later they still have not reviewed it. Those who share that article on Facebook will be receiving the same notice from the social network.

EOn March 23, I published an article with this photo of Vladimir Putin. Facebook immediately labeled it "graphic violence." One wonders if publishing any photo of a dictator is going to be labeled like that, it makes no sense. I asked for a review that same day: four days later they still have not responded.

On March 26, I published an article of mine with this photo of Donald Tusk. It's an article from last year. Facebook labeled it "graphic violence." I don't like Tusk, but it seems out of place to qualify this image that way. I have asked for a review but they have not responded yet.

Today the height of the absurdity has arrived: Facebook has labeled it as "graphic violence" this photo of a cross that I published yesterday. As you can see, there is nothing violent about the image, no matter how much Facebook executives may be bothered by the sight of a cross. I have asked for a review but I have already given up hope that they will answer it soon.

What is happening on Facebook? Well, I'll give you my opinion. This social network has been using artificial intelligence to identify violent images for years. Once identified, Facebook's algorithm decides whether to censor them or not. It seems that Facebook's systems are giving a multitude of false warnings of "graphic violence", judging by the messages that are being published on Twitter denouncing these events. By increasing these false notices, Facebook will be receiving an avalanche of review requests and that is why it is taking longer and longer to respond to them. That's assuming a person reviews them.

At this point, Facebook should have already realized the problem, but it seems not to care, since it has been happening for weeks and instead of solving it, the chaos is getting worse. Perhaps they believe that their dominant position in the field of social networks will last forever and that they can afford to subject their users to absurd levels of censorship without any consequences. Taller towers have fallen, and what Mark Zuckerberg is achieving with this is scaring away more and more users in favor of other social networks, especially since the arrival of Elon Musk to Twitter and the restoration of freedom of expression on that social network.

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Photo: Solen Feyissa.